Turtlecove Park, once a vast tourist attraction, has been reduced to that of a less mirrored image. Trees are tossed about with their leaves utterly weighed down by the pattering rainfall. The water level has risen to over ten feet and rising, benches floating aimlessly and everything else submerged. And now the hail begins. But some of the larger trees are able to station themselves against the rising winds that howl like a wolf. A red head band falls from the tree, swept away immediately and carried away by the winds. Near the top of the tree, an arm is seen extended out, the hand opened flat. Intense breathing is easily hidden behind the peppering of the rain as Cole grips tightly his Morpher in the other hand. For a moment, he stares at the device. The Morpher itself, a golden communications device of many buttons, a driver of his current path, is gazed upon curiously. His mouth opens slightly, as if about to ask something, but he stops. Hail drops bounce off his skull and goes unnoticed. "You...you are what separated me from my home, from the only life I knew. You- you demanded my presence and didn't care of what the consequences. And for what?" he drops the Morpher into the raging waters and looks everywhere at once, "...for what?" Breathing becomes a chore rather quickly. "If this is destiny, then who laid it out? Show yourseeeeelf! Huh? Well come on! What are you waiting for? I'm here, I'm right...here"
Looking straight up, his eyes close tight and feel every raindrop and every ounce of hail. Lightning cracks the sky widely as if to underscore his words.
"I...was happy with my life! I had everything I needed, I was fulfilled! But now...but now...I learn that my parents are dead. And they didn't just die..their lives were ended coldly and I'm the only one left...these creatures bear no heart....I cannot understand how a creature without a heart can exist. Nothing makes sense! Their threat is unceasing...the violence, the destruction, the Chaos. Why, Red Lion...why did you choose me? The Orgs will never go away, they can be brought back without a sweat. What’s the point?"
“Indeed.”
Cole jumps up and nearly falls of the branch, and would have if not for the other man taking hold of his arm and pulling him up.
“After all, even if you destroy all the Orgs from three thousand years ago, modern pollution allows the creation of new Org spirits.”
“Who are you? And how could you know about Orgs?”
“Oh, forgive me please. My name is Sean.. I have the same biology class as Alyssa. Is she alright?”
“Sean? I’ve never heard about you.”
“Not surprised. I kept to myself mostly. Alyssa was never one to notice other people, anyways. And about the Orgs, I’ve seen her actually fight them. I overhear a lot.”
“She’s resting. She’ll be fine. How did you get up here?”
“Same as you, I suppose. Cole, hundreds of houses have been destroyed. Everyone has scattered. I don’t know where my family is.”
“What?”
“Haven’t you noticed the damage this storm has caused? Look around!”
“I had no idea there was so much-”
“What did you think was happening?”
“How did you know my name?"
"What? It doesn't matter right now."
"I don’t know, I-”
“Well come on then! The two of us can’t stay up here while innocent lives hang in the balance! Let’s work together. What do you say?.”
"Sean...I would love to help those people. But their doomed no matter what. If this rain doesn't get them, then all the Orgs will. I begin to wonder if the Rangers ever had a chance to win this war to begin with."
With an uneasy growl, the backside of Sean's right hand smacks Cole's face hard enough to cause him to fall back on the branch.
"Fool! What kind of coward are you? You would let the innocent be destroyed by idiots like the Orgs? And you call yourself a Red Ranger."
"What did you say?"
"Oh give me break. It's not that hard to figure out, newbie."
"Look, whatever you're thinking-"
"Then explain this."
In Sean's left hand holds Cole's Growl Phone Morpher.
"You see...it seems I have a better understanding of things then you thought. And I also understand this- this city, this world, needs you and your friends. Think of your parents."
"How do-"
"No matter. Think of the sacrifice your mother made to hide you away moments before her brutal demise. Their life's work, to find the Animarium, is now your legacy. You said it yourself- you are carrying on the work they began."
"Wait-"
"Quiet, you fool. You cry about how Orgs have no heart. Well why don't you listen to your own? It's so simple, you idiot!"
Cole stares at Sean, ready to jump up on the branch, but he stays still, ignoring the rain, listening to the words of the stranger.
"Your heart beats alongside the life of this planet. Do not take my word for it. Think of Alyssa. Your human heart is linked not only to your Wildzords, to to each other as well. Search her heart, as well. And see what I see..."
Not another word is spoken by either being. Silence becomes an obsolute power when Cole Evans closes his eyes and searches his mind. For many moments, the young Ranger jerks his head about. And then finally, his body becomes still, his head stationed.
"Cole!" cries out a feminine voice.
Cole gasps suddenly at the voice, his mind refocused within a moment.
"I'm sorry, Alyssa...I couldn't protect you. I'm afraid that I'll lose you and it could've have been avoided, just like my parents' death. How can I be a guardian of the Earth if I cannot protect my friends?"
"Because it's what you were born for! Danny, Max, Merrick and Taylor don't stand a chance without you. This power is too strong for them."
"And what if I let them down, too? The Orgs can't be stopped!"
"Then maybe they're not supposed to be stopped!"
"What?"
"If there's one thing I've learned from both college and Princess Shayla, it's that the universe has an equal balance of what's right and what's wrong. One cannot exist without the other! Think of the Orgs as the antagonist inside you. If there's nothing to oppose it, the evil inside you wins. And if there were no evil left over, then the good would become a new evil to continue the battle between the two."
"But why, Alyssa? Why can't it end?"
"Because without that equal balance of good and evil, whether inside us or in front of us, life doesn't exist! We live to learn and to better our knowledge of the ways of life. If you let the darkness have absolute rule, then the universe is next to follow. Our destiny, as guardians of the Earth, is to keep the Orgs from destroying the good which will collapse the balance. And if one or all of us fall in battle, our spirit fights on in those who succeed us. Our spirit has to be strong for everything else to be strong."
"Alyssa...I know that you're right."
I know. Cole, this is your time to prove that Red Lion chose the right Ranger to lead us. The Orgs cannot be allowed to rule again."
"Alyssa...how do I stop them? Alyssa?"
There is no further comment heard from Alyssa Enrile. Cole looks back to Sean, seeing he is gone as well! But wrapped within fine branches is the Growl Phone. The Morpher is snatched up before a devastating thunderclap cracks the sky once more.
From within the shadows of the lightning's departure, Sean, observing Cole racing away, cackles as his own body shifts and melts away the human camoflauge. And as the rain continues to press hard, Darkonda's cackle disappears.
Next time...
A sinister plan enters its first phase as Deviot holds the remote to the ultimate task force.
Peril comes to the alliance between him and Darkonda as a blast from the bounty hunter's past must choose who to follow, and who to rid.
